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REGISTRY, Breed
& kennel Club NEWS
Should Elderly or Infirm Judges Be Forced To Resign?
We polled almost 9,000 subscribers on whether it would be FAIR or UNFAIR
if AKC Asked Elderly or infirm judges to
resign? This was prompted by an unconfirmed rumor that
revered terrier man Ric Chashoudian (who has had back problems), All Breed Judge
and magazine columnist Marcia Foy of Delaware and popular multi-group
judge Bob Sharp of NY may have been asked to resign.
Link to Ballot Results and your comments below but first, please note
the following:
CORRECTION: 5/20/08
"My
name is Bob Sharp, I have not been asked to not judge, I judged in
Michigan last week and am Judging in New York in two weeks, Please
retract your article on my status."We decided his email is
the most factual correction we could make. While our source was
extremely reliable, we sincerely apologize to Mr. Sharp. Just
proves you can't believe everything you read online, even at
TheDogPress.com
We posed several questions for readers before asking them to vote.
They were:
Is it unfair to require someone who has been so devoted to the sport
to just “go away” because they can no longer do a good job? Let’s face
it, many young healthy judges do a miserable job but they still get
entries.
Is there a sensible formulae by which AKC can and should ask judges,
regardless of their health or age, to withdraw from center ring? How
many letters of complaint from the average exhibitor might it take to
justify that action? How many letters would it take to have a
young, healthy but incompetent judge removed?
Many judges have continued to judge during their last years. Lina
Basquette judged her last show from a wheelchair. Going to shows is a
major part of their lives but should judges attend dog shows as a
spectator or as the one deciding important wins?
Could/should judges be removed based on performance and exhibitor
satisfaction, not arbitrary decisions by AKC officials who are neither
exhibitors nor medical professionals?
Has AKC asked for your opinion on this important issue? We will forward a consensus of your votes along
with a selection of one-sentence comments to Peter Gaeta, AKC Judges’
Dept.
We then asked readers to VOTE and
they vote they did! About a hundred more votes and comments were
still coming in on Tuesday after the ballot box closed.
The two ballot questions were:
If you believe requiring
judges to step down when deemed by AKC to be incapable of doing a good
job due to age or health issues,
click FAIR
If you believe that AKC should not discriminate against a judge due to
age or health issues,
click UNFAIR
6/08 |
We called
Mr. Peter Gaeta, Director Of Judging Operations who graciously
agreed to an interview. He
was candid and genuinely concerned,
both for exhibitors and judges. AKC has excellent
procedure in
place, as does the Senior Conformation Judges Association (Interview
later this month). Click Here for AKC Judging Dept. Interview.
